Friday, December 10, 2010

The establishment of multi-platform players at the village level – in
southwestern Benin and in the circle of Sikasso in Mali – and the strong
involvement of stakeholders are already positive signs of the successful
management of land development by the actors themselves.

This was the verdict of the participants who attended the final workshop of the
first phase of the European Commission-funded 2-year project “Realizing the
agricultural potential of inland valley lowlands in sub-Saharan Africa while
maintaining their environmental services (RAP).” The workshop was held, 7-10
December 2010, in Cotonou, Benin.

The project seeks to improve the livelihood of the rural poor by enhancing the
productivity and competitiveness of inland valleys through sustainable
intensification and diversification of agricultural productivity and product
value chain development, while conserving land and water resources.

Over 50 participants presented and discussed the results obtained in the first
phase and made recommendations to identify methods and tools capable of
ensuring the national and regional dissemination of technological innovations,
institutional and socio-economic improvements to enhance the sustainable
productivity of rice in the inland valleys and improve the lives and
livelihoods of all the actors along the value chain.

This plurality of actors reflects the commitment of RAP to involve the entire
range of stakeholders in the participatory learning and action research (PLAR)
process.

At the workshop, 25 papers and 14 posters were presented, structured around
three sessions:

• Success Factors of increased development of lowland
• Intensification and diversification in rice systems
• Development of value chains of agricultural systems based on rice

The meeting included a field trip to the inland valleys of Dogbo and Houinga in
the Mono-Couffo area in Benin. It allowed participants to interact with the
villagers and to evaluate in situ the relevance of the participatory process
around the multi-platforms actors.

The participants were honored that Dr Lynn Haight, a member of the Board of
Directors of the CGIAR Consortium to Benin, who was visiting AfricaRice during
that period, joined the field trip.

The workshop concluded that a great deal of knowledge and experience has been
gained and collaborations initiated with partners in development projects. The
next step is to document this knowledge in scientific publications and produce
tools that will facilitate decision-making (videos, agro-socio-economic
geo-referenced databases on inland valleys, etc.) in partnership with the
development actors.

AfricaRice headquarters is based in Côte d’Ivoire. Staff are located in Côte d’Ivoire and also in AfricaRice Research Stations in Benin, Liberia, Madagascar, Nigeria, Senegal and Tanzania. For more information visit: www.AfricaRice.org

About CGIAR

CGIAR is a global research partnership for a food-secure future. CGIAR science is dedicated to reducing poverty, enhancing food and nutrition security, and improving natural resources and ecosystem services.

Its research is carried out by 15 CGIAR Centers in close collaboration with hundreds of partners, including national and regional research institutes, civil society organizations, academia, development organizations and the private sector. www.cgiar.org